Technical Abstract:
Bermudagrass is a productive, warm-season perennial grass that has moderate forage quality in the early growing season, but quality of the grass typically declines in the middle to late growing season. A grazing study with bermudagrass was conducted in 1998 to determine the response of feeder steers to supplementation with ground corn (0, 0.4, 1.3, and 2.2 kg steer-1 d-2). Each 1.0 ha pasture was stocked at a rate of 5 steer ha-1 and was fertilized with split applications of N (68 kg ha-1) at the start and middle of the study. Three, 0.25 m2 quadrats were clipped from each pasture every two weeks to monitor bermudagrass nutritive value over the experimental period. There was a curvilinear increase in steer ADG and gain per ha as supplement levels increased, with the highest performance being obtained with the 1.3 kg steer-1 d-2 treatment. Bermudagrass crude protein was above 85 g kg-1 DM for most of the study, but in vitro digestible dry matter was less than 520 g kg-1 DM over most of the study period. Results of the study indicate that steer ADG and gain per ha on bermudagrass can respond favorably to daily supplementation with ground corn in quantities up to 1.3 kg steer-1.